Jim Wells

How did Northern Ireland lawmakers carve out an anti-abortion ‘ghetto’ within the UK?
Northern Ireland remains a blind spot for equality for women and members of the LGBTIQ community. Will Ireland’s abortion referendum change this?

Stephanie Williamson
11 June 2018

More than two weeks have passed since Ireland’s historic abortion referendum was won by a groundswell of grassroots feminist activism. A large majority (66.4%) voted to repeal the country’s eighth constitutional amendment, opening the door to proposed legislation to allow abortions up to 12 weeks.

Huge numbers of repeal campaigners and voters were young women – with a staggering 94% increase in the turnout of women aged 18-24, compared to the 2016 general election. The result reflected a frank rejection of decades of misogyny and the suffocating grip of church and state on women’s rights.

DUP says it will not be ‘bullied’ into changing abortion stance
PSNI reviewing protest footage to determine whether any offences have been committed

May 31, 2018
Amanda Ferguson

The DUP has said Northern Ireland will not be “bullied or bounced” into changing its abortion laws after feminist activists swallowed abortion pills outside Laganside courts in Belfast.

Anti-abortion South Down MLA Jim Wells was speaking on Thursday outside the North’s main court buildings after three pro-choice campaigners took abortion pills in front of the PSNI in defiance of the strict laws governing terminations.